Triple H Recalls Former World Champion Failing First WWE Tryout
A former World Champion failed in his first attempt to join WWE and Triple H has explained why that is.
Damian Priest has had a great run in WWE over the last couple of years. After winning the Money in the Bank briefcase in the summer of 2023, he waited for the right moment and cashed in the briefcase to become the new World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 40 this past April.
At WWE SummerSlam in Cleveland, Priest lost the World Heavyweight Championship in a match against Gunther in part because Priest’s “brother” Finn Balor of The Judgment Day turned on Priest during the match, which allowed Gunther to get the win.
WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, who runs the show as the booker, is a fan of Priest and has been since he was booking Priest in NXT before Priest was on the main roster.
The 41-year-old Priest signed with WWE in late 2018 after a solid run in Ring of Honor for about three years. Priest was used prominently in NXT until early 2021 when he made it to the main roster.
There’s a new “WWE 24” documentary called “WWE 24: Damian Priest” on Peacock/WWE Network that covers his career. During the documentary, Triple H spoke about Priest not getting signed when he first tried out for WWE while also crediting Priest for getting in shape, which led to him getting signed.
“He just got himself in great shape. We gave him some feedback the last time he was here. He implemented that into what he does. So, he clearly takes direction and is driven to try to do more. But a lot of people wanted to come into the company at that bit of time, and the competition for spots became greater. So, he was doing the work; we just don’t have the space.”
Damian Priest Recalls What Led To Faild WWE Tryout
In addition to the World Heavyweight Title, Priest has also held the United States Title and he was a Tag Team Champion with Finn Balor. Priest spoke about his failed 2010 WWE tryout in the documentary while admitting that he blamed everybody else for not making it.
“In 2010, I had my first tryout at FCW. And, man, did I tank it. I gained a lot of weight. I was close to 400 pounds. My skills were so subpar compared to everybody else’s. It was an eye-opener, but still, at the time, I blamed everyone else.”
After being a heel with The Judgment Day over the last two years, Priest is back is to his babyface ways and received a loud ovation from the fans at both SummerSlam and the Raw episode that followed.